Introducing D-Wave: The New Era of Quantum Computing

In 1965, co-founder of Intel Gordon Moore made a famous prediction: the number of transistors on a microprocessor chip, and thus its performance, will continue to double every two years. Widely known as Moore’s law, this bold claim transformed the semiconductor industry as processor chip manufacturers rushed to fulfill this prediction every year. While attempts have been successful for the past 60 years, transistors are now starting to reach their physical limitations and Moore’s law finally seems doomed to fail. But computer software company D-Wave Systems, Inc. has a solution: if processors can no longer speed up on a classical level, then why not design processors that function on a quantum level?

While the topic of quantum mechanics may appear daunting at first, the general basis behind this fascinating science is rather simple. To provide a brief summary, quantum mechanics is a relatively new branch of physics that focuses on processes happening at an atomic lev­el. It arose when scientists realized that rules of physics governing the world at a large scale don’t seem to match the behavior of subatomic particles like electrons and photons. While ob­jects in classical mechanics exist in a specific place at a specific time, objects in quantum me­chanics can exist in numerous different places and be different things at the same time. Additionally, quantum mechanics isn’t just con­fined to theoretical physics. Companies that can incorporate this new variable into their machinery could potentially change the entire industry of their field, which is ultimately what D-Wave is currently trying to accomplish.

For the past several decades, the semiconduc­tor industry built faster, more efficient processor chips by building increasingly smaller transistors. The idea is that the smaller the transistors are, the more you can squeeze on a microprocessor chip and the faster the chip can process informa­tion. So far, the most advanced microprocessors have circuit features that are only 14 nanometers long, which is smaller than the size of most vi­ruses. Experts estimate that in a few years, manufacturers may start building tran­sistors that are only 10 atoms long. But despite the industry’s successful track record, there is a definite limit to how small a transistor can be be­fore it becomes too unreliable to use. That is why D-Wave used the bizarre rules of quantum phys­ics to create a supercomputer that can process data much faster than what classical computing will ever be capable of. In 2015, the company announced the construction of the world’s first fully-operational quantum computer, the D-Wave 2X system.

The big question for most people, however, is how does a quantum computer work? Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gained huge me­dia buzz on the internet when he offered his own explanation: “What quantum states allow for is much more complex information to be encod­ed into a single bit. A regular computer bit is either a 1 or 0—on or off. A quantum state can be much more complex than that because as we know, things can be both particle and wave at the same time and the uncertainty around quantum states allows us to encode more information into a much smaller computer.”

Although initially impressive, Trudeau’s ex­planation is not quite correct. While it is true that conventional computers use bits that are either a 1 or a 0, the quantum states of quantum comput­ers don’t allow more information to be squeezed into a single bit. A quantum bit, or a qubit, is in a state of complete mystery until it is measured, at which point, it becomes a normal 0 or 1. However, what makes quantum computers so powerful is that being in that state of complete mystery, known as superposition, allows a qubit to be 0, 1 or both at the same time. This characteristic is what gives quantum computers like the D-Wave system their most valuable feature: the ability to consider all possi­bilities simultaneously and choose the best one.

While a classical computer solves a problem by considering each possible solution one at a time, experts estimate that a quantum computer can process and solve a problem up to a 100 mil­lion times faster than a conventional computer. Given this extraordinary speed, it’s little wonder that Google, NASA, Lock­heed Martin and the U.S. Department of Energy have all showed great interest in D-Wave’s prod­uct.

Quantum computing allows the tech indus­try to not only meet the predictions of Moore’s law, but also greatly surpass them. The D-Wave 2X system is expected to become an irreplace­able asset in solving optimization problems that require sifting through enormous stockpiles of data. Examples of the D-Wave computer’s appli­cations range from finding more accurate pat­terns in weather to becoming the cutting-edge tool in financial analysis that’s worth millions of dollars. Its ability would usher a new age of computing that scientists in the past would have deemed impossible.

Despite all the promise that it offers, quan­tum computing remains a relatively infantile field. The D-Wave system is not perfect and their processing capabilities are currently limited. In addition, quantum computers like D-Wave’s cost between $10 million to $15 million due to the difficulty behind building one. These machines require liquid nitrogen to cool its hardware to just above absolute zero (-273.15 C) in order to maintain its quantum state and any interference, whether outside or inside, could potentially destroy the fragile balance in the system. Yet despite the difficulties involved, the field of quantum computing has attracted the attention of international organizations around the world who are interested in a slice of this revolution­ary new benchmark in scientific achievement. In the end, we should expect further details about the semiconductor industry’s latest and greatest solution as it seems like Moore’s law won’t be broken anytime soon.